


Time the Cryptid

by Cixalea



Series: Linked Universe [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Character Analysis, Character musing, Gen, Linked Universe, LinkedUniverse, is Time really a cryptid?, it's a secret to everyone - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 02:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21366784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cixalea/pseuds/Cixalea
Summary: Who could blame Twilight for wondering if his mentor wasn’t already a lingering spirit wearing a Hylian mask?
Relationships: Time & Twilight (Linked Universe)
Series: Linked Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555531
Comments: 12
Kudos: 211





	Time the Cryptid

Twilight never knew the details of how his mentor ended up a ghostly shade.

And as it hadn’t actually happened to Time yet, it’s not like he could ask. Not that he would ask if he could, because that’s rude. And he also wasn’t sure if Time would tell him the whole truth either. But that didn’t mean that Twilight didn’t have his own speculations though. 

While training with the Hero’s Shade, Twilight’s best guess as to how his mentor came to be a ghost, was something along the lines that the legendary Hero of Time was brought back from death by Hylia to fulfill a last, heroic task. A final and noble passing-of-the-torch befitting the most famous and tragic incarnation of the Hero.

But the more Twilight got to know the old man while he was in the flesh, the more Twilight was sure it went a little differently. Maybe something more like that when Time was standing in the afterlife as he was confronted with the actuality of his literal death, he looked Hylia dead in the eyes, and said, “No.”

And then proceeded to grumpily walk around as an armor-clad specter wearing a Stalfos-looking mask to complete the creepy look—his now transparent middle fingers saluting the rules of time and space while he trained Twilight just because no descendent of his was going to be fighting Ganon with that kind of footwork. No, sir!

Or maybe Twilight’s mentor was always some sort of cryptid creature and appearing as a Hylian like them was some sort of magic? The Shadow crystal that was tucked between his chainmail and tunic reminded Twilight that looks were often deceiving.

After all, Time never seemed to be fazed by anything. Twilight knew Time had seen a lot in his warped lifespan, but when there was an infected Golden Lynel lobbing fire down on them during a lightning storm, instead of running for cover like the rest of them, Time gave it his condescending ‘you-can-do-better-than-this’ look of disappointment and took a swing at it with his biggoron sword. After all that, who could blame Twilight for wondering if his mentor wasn’t already a lingering spirit wearing a Hylian mask?

“Do you  _ need _ something?”

Twilight startled when he realized he was staring at his mentor to see if his chest really was moving, that he was breathing like a living being.

Twilight shook his head quickly and rolled over to his other side so as to avoid seeing Time’s confused expression from over Wild’s starfished sleeping form. And so that Time couldn’t see Twilight’s face heat up from embarrassment. He scolded himself for being stupid.

Besides, the Hero’s Shade breathed too.

**Author's Note:**

> So I only recently got on the LU train. Time and Twilight are easily my two favorite characters, and I especially love their relationship. (Twilight and Wild's relationship is a close second favorite, so there will probably be a fic about them sometime.) 
> 
> I really like what Jojo's done with Time's personality, and I tried hard to stick as close to LU canon as possible with this short fic. From what I glean from it, Time's like what every old man hopes they could be—mischievous yet respected with a dash of I've-seen-it-all and I-do-what-I-want.
> 
> I have a few more ideas of things to write, but I think what's slowing me down is the amount of research I need to do beforehand considering I'm decently familiar with the lore of most of the Zelda games but have only played two Zelda games myself: Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. 
> 
> Speaking of which, I totally thought while playing Twilight Princess that the Hero's Shade was really the OoT Link turned into a Stalfos, but if you look closely, he doesn't have any bones exposed (other than the skull) like you would expect from a Stalfos. The areas that aren't covered by his armor (arms, legs, torso) are transparent, which led me to believe that he's a ghost just wearing a Stalfos-looking mask (a part of the Captain's Hat mask specifically, which ironically can give you command over ghosts. Probably something quite useful if you're a ghost yourself). I could be wrong, but that's my interpretation.
> 
> You'll probably see more from me. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
> 
> Anyway, hoped you liked it. Thanks for reading!


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